My Musical Journey
I was raised in a musical family. My mom played piano and sang. My dad played guitar, bass, and piano with a rhythmic banging style all his own. I sang in front of the church as young as five and we often sang specials as a family. As a young boy, I would beat on everything: the table, the floor, my legs. It drove everyone crazy. So on my twelfth birthday my Christmas present was a sears snare drum with a 10 inch cymbal. I began playing the trap set in church. Imagine I'll Fly Away with the rat-a-tat-tat of a snare drum. A member of the church had a bass drum in storage so he dusted it off and added it to my set. I now had kick, snare and a cymbal.
Our listening selection of music growing up was limited to albums left for us by southern gospel groups who sang at our churches. We also had a frequently played Dallas Holm record. In my mid teens, an older youth in our church shared some music with me from groups like The Imperials and David Meece. I liked this new contemporary style so I made me an 8-track mix tape from her albums. One day I had the music playing in the living room while we ate dinner. The Imperials' version of Old Gospel Ship came on and broke into a guitar solo. My mom made the statement, "If the writer of that song heard that he would roll over in his grave." I knew then my musical taste had strayed from the family norm. Then an evangelist came through and introduced me to Keith Green, B.J. Thomas and others, duplicating some tapes for me on his high speed duplicator. I was driving by this time, so I could pop these tapes into my car stereo and blast it out. The summer of '80 or '81 I worked the summer camps at the Louisiana District Assemblies of God Campground in Woodworth, LA. One of my fellow work mates let me listen to his two tapes of DeGarmo & Key. Man! This struck a chord that would never stop. I went to the Christian book store in Alexandria and ordered both of them ... on vinyl. My love for Christian rock would be a life long pursuit. I started spending hours at the Christian books store in Natchez, MS, listening, and purchasing new music. From Ferriday, LA, we could pick up FM 102 out of Monroe. On Sunday mornings there was a program called the Larry Black show. It was an hour of contemporary Christian music. I was introduced to new artists like Carmen and Resurrection Band, both of which I secured on vinyl.
In 1982 we moved to Minden, LA, and there was a local Christian book store owned by a lady in our church. This made it convenient to continue building now my vast tape collection. My collection included Sweet Comfort Band, Petra, Allies, 77's, Daniel Amos, Vector, Servant, Whiteheart, on and on, everything I could get my hands on. I subscribed to CCM magazine so I could read about the artists and find out what is new. Soon after moving to Minden, a guy told me about Petra coming in concert to Shreveport. We bought tickets and entered the arena. The only Christian concert I had ever been to was an Imperials show in Jackson, MS, we took a youth trip to go see. Never a full fledged rock show. Petra was on the "More Power to Ya" tour. The lights dimmed and smoke filled the arena. Still the thickest smoke I can remember, even after attending hundreds of other concerts. The stage lights began to dance and the thunderous music powered forth like a mighty army storming a castle. As the fog started to disperse, you could faintly begin to see figures dressed in camouflaged themed outfits appearing on the stage, gripping their respective instruments with authority, and the crowd goes wild. What a fantastic experience. Not long after we attended a similar concert for the band Servant. Then Amy Grant.
A young man moved from South Louisiana to Minden to attend school and started attending our church. We became fast friends. He played guitar and piano. I played drums. What are two musicians required to do when they become friends? Start a band of course. We looked for other musicians and found a young man in our church that played drums. Hey, wait! I play drums. We don't need two drummers. So I decided to switch to bass. I went to a music store in Shreveport and bought a brand new Peavey T-40 and a Peavey Basic 40 amp. Bass would be my primary instrument the rest of my life. We practiced more than we gigged. But it was good experience for all of us over the next few years, as other musicians came and went shifting the profile of the group.
Fall of 1983 I went to college in Waxahatchie, TX, and the number of concerts grew, since many bands played in Dallas. I went to a concert for one of my favorite bands, Resurrection Band, and the opening band was Steve Taylor. I knew nothing about him other than I had hear his song I Want To Be A Clone at a skating rink on Christian skate night. He only had a six song EP out. He was so great, and quickly became an all time favorite artist to this day. He played his short opening set and exited the stage as required. The crowd roared, "We want more! We want more!" Unheard of to demand an encore from an opening act. Steve and his band slinked back on stage where he sheepishly proclaimed, "Well, we played all six of our songs. So I guess we will do this one again." And they played I Want to be a Clone a second time.
1983 was the year another Christian rock band came to prominence. Stryper! I was quick to grab the original release of Yellow and Black Attack when it came out. Going to see them in Dallas was a must. It was such an amazing show.
I came home from college, the family moved to Haynesville, I married Terri and we moved to El Dorado. All the while building my music library. Not just Christian rock, but while in Dallas I found another favorite artist in Tim Miner. His R&B flavor and soulful delivery helped widen my love across groups like BeBe and CeCe, the Winans and other soul based styles. Jon Gibson became an oft played artist and the like. In 1989 I took a chance on a tape by three young men who called themselves DC Talk. Now we had another trail to trace in Christian rap. Disciples of Christ, PID, ETW, SFC and other letters held prominent positions in the player.
Two young men in my youth group -- I was now youth pastor at Westside Assembly of God in El Dorado, AR -- started a rap group called Heavenz Possee. They would take soundtracks of DC Talk songs and perform at youth events. I had created a small studio in my home and recorded original songs, playing all the instruments and singing. They decided they wanted to make a tape of original songs they could sell at concerts. We wrote ten songs and recorded all the music in my studio and had them duplicated for sale.
In 1996 in was inevitable that the group was destined to move away from tracks and form a live band. Denton had a passion for drums and had been playing for several years in church and other opportunities. My primary instrument was bass guitar, so the low end was covered. Enter Matt Helms from Summerfield, Louisiana. Matt was still in High School at the time, but quite a good guitarist. And was willing to do his part to make the band a success. A couple of shows were lined up for August and later, but there was a problem. There was no singer. Someone had been lined up for vocals but quit before the first show. So I approached my brother Bryan about doing this one show in August. Bryan had some experience singing, but he already had his life plans on track. He was in college as a graphic design major. Bryan agreed to do just this one show. Hours of practice writing and learning original songs, as well as some covers like Flood (Jars of Clay), and In the Light (DC Talk / Charlie Peacock). The day of the first show arrived. The new incarnation of Heavenz Possee took the rickity, make-shift stage and rocked the house. In retrospect, it probably wasn't that great of a show. But five guys never had so much fun. After the show Bryan agreed to stay on through December to give HP plenty of time to find a suitable lead vocalist. Show after show lined up like crossties under a track directing a train bound for somewhere. In October, while playing a local festival, HP met a couple of men who had a studio in Louisiana. They wanted the band to come down and see what we could lay down. We went down for our first time in a "real" studio and recorded three demo songs: Hurricane, Certain Man, and What I Want for Christmas. And along side the old Heavenz Possee TAPE still selling at shows, even though we didn't do any of the songs on it (well maybe one), the new 3 song EP was sold, yep, on TAPE. Tapes we dubbed ourselves, no doubt. Bryan announced to the band, "Let's just see what happens."
One thing that Heavenz Possee decided consciously early on, we were going to be more than just a band. We were going to be entertainers. Drawing from experiences we gleaned from other productions we had been a part of, we begin to carefully craft our show to contain four things: Good music, high energy, crowd involvement and ministry. And it seemed to work really well. A Christian club in Minden, Louisiana, The Potter's Wheel, gave a regular spot to HP and from there the shows begin to spread across North Louisiana. In 1997, the band begin recording a full length album titled for the song Hurricane. One highlight of the year was headlining a major Christian festival sponsored by a radio station in Monroe, LA called The Hill. This festival was known as Hill Stock. Another mark of 1997 was getting the opportunity to open for three of Christian musics greats at that time: Reality Check, The Waiting and Big Tent Revival. In another event, HP opened for bands Prophesy, Silage, and Value Pac. With the release of Hurricane, and some major shows under our belts it was apparent that God was going to take us far. 1998 became a year to learn how to be road warriors. The region began to expand beyond the Arkansas - Louisiana boundries into Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Alabama. We landed three more major opening spots this year with Between Thieves, GRITS, and Human. Also some independent promotional efforts landed Hurricane on some scattered radio stations. On an adventurous trip to Nashville we found the location of Gotee Studio in Franklin, TN. As we lurked around outside hoping to see someone cool we noticed a guy trying to move some furniture in a shed out back. Our offer of help was accepted and when the chore was done Troy Collins (then sales manager for Gotee) invited us on a tour of the studio. We talked for a long while and was then shown the offices down town. We met all the guys who make Gotee records tick. They invited us to play flag football with them the next day with Toby Mac, Todd Collins and others. At this football game the guys met Reid Waltz, who would later produce the Gravity Youth album.
As the region opened up beyond what the old Heavenz Possee had played in the past, it became apparent the name of the band was not a good representation of the band. A radio guy in Oklahoma City encouraged us to look for a name that didn't scream "Two turn tables and a microphone". So a quest ensued to changing identity. After a few months of writing prospective names on a list, it was decided to go with Tinman as a nod from the character from the Wizard of Oz. He wanted a heart, and the band felt like this spoke a lot about who we were and what our pursuit was. We wanted a heart after God. Jones was later added to keep from conflicting with an Irish band named "Tinman". The big news was set to be announced at "The Coffee House" in Monroe, LA. This was a place the band was playing about once a month to capacity crowds. The buzz about a big announcement drew a crowd with standing room only ... outside the building. The night made it official. This band was now Tinman Jones. Tinman Jones continued to expand our region, playing many shows and forging lasting friendships. In January of 1999 we attended a Gospel Music Association 3 day seminar in Dallas, TX. Here we learned a lot of things about the "business" of music and the Christian music industry as a whole. But the biggest reward for attending this convention was meeting Tom Jackson. Tom Jackson was one of the most sought after performance coaches in music. He works with everybody that is somebody. After a couple of sessions, Tinman Jones purchased a video series to dive deeper into the wisdom Tom had to share. After completing the video series the band re-designed our show after Tom's model, still using our own personality and showmanship in the crafting of this show. The new show was met with exponential enthusiasm. Besides getting great show tips, our meeting with Tom was productive in another way. Tom was also an associate with World Vision. He helped TMJ get involved in what would be a relationship that would last the rest of the bands career. This became a big focus for the band as another way to use our gifts in ministry. The World Vision presentations resulted in hundreds of child sponsorships over the next 5 years. In December of 1999 Tinman Jones traveled to Nashville to record two songs with Reid Waltz of Gotee Music Publishing. In a whirlwind session riddled with late nights and "bounce-r-roo" and Foos Ball, the crowd favorite "Superhero" and energetic "Etch-a-Sketch" were laid down. This two song "single" became the foundation for what would become a great full length album. 500 copies of Superhero were sent to radio stations around the country and was soon a radio favorite at many. Although the song never charted nationally, it did reach number one on several stations and top ten on many.
Traveling was challenging when going in multiple vehicles, or piled in the back of a camper covered pick up. It was time to get a real tour vehicle. When playing with bands Between Thieves and, on another occasion, The Waiting, we saw that those bands traveled in a box truck that had been converted to a camper. So we started praying for God to make a way to get something like this. God answered prayer. A church in Grove, OK, where we had played a couple of times heard we were looking for something and GAVE Tinman Jones a truck that had been used in a carpet business. The truck had a walk through to the cab and we quickly converted the box to contain two couches, a dresser and four bunks. On the heels of this release of Superhero, the band took off on its first official tour. The Nine States in Nine Days tour. A show was played in nine different states in nine consecutive days. This even expanded our region further. Later in 2000, it was time to record some more songs. This time enlisting the talents of Nashville producer/guitarist Barry Blair (who was also the original guitarist for Audio Adrenaline). The session was held in Greenville, Illinois and yielded Like You (later titled "To See You), "Evidence", and the nationally chart topping "I Will". With the number of dates keeping Tinman Jones on the road more than ever, founding member and drummer Denton Ashcraft felt it was time to leave the band. This was unexpected. But God always has a plan. A round of auditions yielded an explosive talent who would quickly seal a solid place as drummer of Tinman Jones to the already established fan base. Mark Toombs joined the band and made his debut in Grove, OK, on a New Year's show December 31, 2000.
The addition of Mark stared an exciting era in the history of Tinman Jones. One of the first orders of business for 2001 was to do what bands are meant to do. Write songs and make records. Producer Reid Waltz (Super Hero single) was enlisted again for a full length CD. The project was to include re-releases of the five songs from the EP Evidence with drum tracks re-recorded by Mark Toombs, and some extra flavors added. Six new songs were selected and recording dates set. The band camped out at "The Orchard" in Brentwood, TN, for nine days for an intense session of recording. After laying the tracks, Reid and his team worked their magic and Gravity Youth was born. Gravity Youth hits the streets and is instantly embraced as it began flying off the table at concerts. But there were greater ambitions than dispensing these CDs to only concert goers. Every year the Christian music industry collects in Nashville, TN, for a week of showcases, press meetings and general schmoozing. With the whole industry being in one place it only made sense to send a delegation to promote Gravity Youth to the industry at large. Don and I took the task to make the trek to Music City to see what we could stir up. After many encounters and tons of CDs passed out to industry big wigs, Christian rock radio guru, Seth Holloway, was impressed with what he heard and decided to take the band on to see what he could do to get TMJ on the airwaves. Seth worked the phones and got "I Will" in the hands of Christian rock stations across the country. Before long the song was climbing the charts and jumped to the top twenty, then continued to climb. "I Will" topped out at #6 in the nation according to R&R and stayed in the top 10 for ten weeks. The follow up release "Axis" found top twenty success making three songs on Gravity Youth (including "Super Hero" released as the single) that received national radio listening audience exposure. Naturally this opened many doors for the band through 2001 and into 2002.
In the summer of 2002 TMJ had a surprise guest at a Louisiana show. The president of Cross Driven Records wanted to meet the band after the show. Ryan Howard passed himself off as just someone who "worked with a label" in Nashville. Talks began with Cross Driven and how the two might be a fit for each other. Later in the summer, Matt Helms decided that he was not willing to follow this more demanding path. So he announced his departure from the band. This was unexpected and not welcome news. But he did stay on while a search was conducted for a replacement. While interviewing the hopefuls, one player came in having memorized all the songs from Gravity Youth. The band was impressed he had taken the time to do that. A few weeks later we had a show in South Texas that Matt was going to be unable to play. Matthew Balch was called (since he had already learned all the songs) to fill in for that show. Tinman Jones selected Matthew to be the replacement for Matt Helms. Cross Driven Records notified the band that they were sending label representatives to a convention concert in Hot Springs, Arkansas in August of 2002. This just happened to be Matthew Balch's debut show. No pressure at all. With the increase of tour dates, the band needed better accommodations on the road. A tour bus was purchased and renovated for use. It was an MCI, one like you see at your local bus stop. The scroll on the front had a number of choices, with one sinply saying "Fun Bus." Naturally, the band opted for "Fun Bus" and the new ride had a nick name. In spring of 2003, the deal with Cross Driven was solidified, and at GMA Week in April contracts were signed. Also at that GMA Week, Tinman Jones played two showcases for other industry professionals. The label wanted to get a fresh national release out as soon as possible. The new CD was produced by Alan Shacklock of Abbey Road Studios fame in Britain whose resume includes working with Meatloaf, Dennis DeYoung (Styx) and Newsboys, Phil Keagy, and Shaded Red, just to name a few. Tinman Jones felt the union stretched us creatively. The album remained true to the style of the band, yet used that style as a launching pad to carry us farther than we have previously ventured. From Poetic came three new radio songs. Sunshine and Say Goodbye found top 20 success while the rap rocker Party became the bands second top ten, reaching #8 nation wide. In the Fall, the band landed a spot on 2003 Shoutfest Tour with Skillet, Tait (Michael Tait of DC Talk and his new band), Zoe Girl, Tree 63, Benjamin Gate, Pillar and more. The obligation for more intensive touring gave pause to Mark Toombs and Matthew Balch, and both announced a desire to leave the band. After some frantic interviews in light of Shoutfest coming upon us, guitarist Nick Starnes and drummer Phil Cox was selected. The first business for the new musicians was to tour with the band to Virginia Beach, VA, where we recorded our first official video to the song Guitar Saint from Poetic. After the video shoot, the band made our way to Texas to hook up with Shoutfest. Shoutfest was sponsored in part by World Vision, and Tinman Jones was the only band on the tour associated with World Vision, so we became the official WV representatives for the tour. It was an amazing experience for the band, crossing the country with the high profile artists. Shoutfest dates were only scheduled for Thursday through Sunday nights, so the band took opportunity to book our own shows Monday through Wednesday to fill the gaps. At the end of the tour, it was obvious that the newest drummer was not a fit for the chemestry of the band. Phil made his exit and a new round of auditions brought in Nashville drummer Kevin Sparkman.
2004 brought an intensive tour schedule, playing as far as New Mexico, Michigan, Maine and Florida. TMJ's label partner had opportunity to sign us up for a "battle of the bands" at an annual event at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In over eight years, the band had only played one battle of the bands type engagement and did not like this format. Our message was meant to be shared and not competed. But since this opportunity was at Disney World, and the winner of the contest would be invited back for a paid concert (yes, the battle was a no paying gig), it seemed something of a must. We played our heart out for the 20 minute set and the judges did something they had not done in the history of the event. They declared a tie between Tinman Jones and one other band, both being invited for a concert at a later date. TMJ continued to criss-cross the states, all the while writing new songs to prepare for a future recording. In August, the band toured to Orlando for our show at Disney. While back stage preparing to go on, Bryan shared he had been offered a teaching opportunity at a college. He was feeling inclined to take it. I shared that Don and I had a conversation while up late one night driving the bus about feeling a release from the calling that held us to the road, but didn't know how to bring up the subject to the others. Now it was clear, the three remaining founding members of the band felt nine years was long enough on the road. The three made a plan to play the remaining schedule until the end of 2004 and park the bus. The matter was discussed with the newest members of the group and the plan was established. When the announcement was made, and a date was set for a final show on December 31, 2004, love poured in from all over the country. The final show was held in Magnolia, Arkansas, and fans from as much as 12 hours away came to be part of the historic event. The band sold out of every CD, T-shirt, sticker, drum stick and all other merchandise on the table. After the merchandise was gone, fans purchased the table cloths, display stands and anything else we would make available. Tinman Jones felt the love from these gestures and knew every mile, every lyric, every beat and strum of guitar was well worth the effort.
The end of the band wasn't the end of the pursuit of music. For a few years I played bass for the youth worship team at El Dorado First Assembly where I was a member by that time. In 2008, the bass player for the sanctuary team moved and I succeeded him in that roll to date. As a bass player for a rock band I had the freedom to dance and play, run the stage and express myself beyond the notes of the strings. Of course, you can't do that in a church service, can you? Well, I was playing one service, standing still and being reverent. The Lord impressed on my heart, "Why don't you worhsip me with your instrument the way you used to?" Really? I can do that? Well, we are a pentecostal church. So I started feeling more comfortable being more animated when I play. David danced before the Lord with all his might when the ark was coming to town. It was what he coud do to show the Lord praise. I thought people would be critical or offended. Quite the opposite. I'm often told, "I love watching you dance while you play." I don't really like that because I don't do it for them to watch, and they are supposed to be concentrating on their own worship. But if I can bring glory to God and cause others to loosen up in their praise and express themselves, I am happy to serve the Lord in that way.
I still go to Christian concerts. I especially love taking my grandkids to see great shows and helping other believers find their favorite Christian music when they had no idea it existed.